First and Last

Well, last night I vacuumed our home for the last time.  Unfortunately...I think some spots in the house might have been vacuumed for the first time last night too according to the dustballs laying around.  My dirty home however is not the focus of this post.  As I vacuumed the empty house I couldn't help but get a little choked up (okay a lot choked up) about the memories we had made there.  It was our first home and with that came a lot of great memories.  I think most importantly though, it was the house we brought both boys home from the hospital to.  So it will forever hold a special place in my heart.  Chad and I learned how to be parents in this house and though some days we make mistakes in that area, most days I look at the two boys and know we must be doing something right.  So it is with a heavy heart that we say Goodbye to Canal Street and all the wonderful neighbors and friends (inclusive of Nolan's first Girlfriend) that came along with it.  Our first house was so much more to us than just a place for shelter, it was a place where we became a family.

I was standing at the doorways of both boys empty rooms and remembering all we had shared there, all the books we had read, all the rocking we had done, all the arguments we have had (surprise: we're not perfect).  Then I turned the corner and saw this on Nolan's wall and I lost it.  This is something that meant so much to me.  Yet it is something that will probably be promptly painted over by the new owners as soon as they move in.  I wish I could cut it out of the wall and bring it with me, but I think they might get mad.  So I did what I do best, I took a picture to preserve the memory (and then shut the door, wiped the tears and ran away).

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this move.  I LOVE the neighborhood we live in and my biggest fear is that no neighborhood will ever compare to this one.  It is full of parks and kids and festivities and restaurants and bars...did I mention bars?  Bars with sandboxes to boot.  It was the perfect setting for our boys and I can say with complete conviction that choosing this location for our first home was one of the best decisions we have ever made.  But two growing boys means two growing toy boxes which means it's time to expand.  So we are now on a journey to find our second perfect home, one that I can only hope will provide us as much joy as our first.